The Saturday 7
1. I did better with my book-reading this week, keeping it mostly to after the chores were done and the girls were in bed. I read four books: Betrayal by Robin Lee Hatcher. It was pretty dumb, but cute enough. Then I read A Proper Pursuit by Lynn Austin. She's one of my all time favorite authors, and this book didn't disappoint. I loved it. Then The Inheritance by Tamera Alexander. Another pretty cheesy one that I enjoyed well enough but wouldn't call earth-shattering. And finally A Sensible Arrangement by Tracie Peterson - it was pretty good. I know I need to branch out of my "inspirational fiction" genre if I want books that aren't so predictable, but I just can't find good romance books that aren't full of sex unless I stick with Christian fiction.
2. I had a rough day at the grocery store with my girls on Monday, as many of you have already seen on facebook.
Lena refuses to sit in the cart. Even when I buckle her, she still manages to get to her feet and scream "mommy" because she wants me to hold her. I am not coordinated enough to hold her and push the cart at the same time, so I tell her over and over to sit down and continue to cram her legs back into the holes while she screams. And Lucy usually starts out fine, but starts to melt down as we shop. Her feet hurt. She wants to walk. She doesn't want to walk any more. She wants in the cart. She wants out of the cart. It drives me crazy that I can't just say "Lucy stop crying. Lena sit down" and have them obey me. Where have I failed?! Anyway, I had so many sweet and helpful responses from my facebook friends. It makes me grateful, once again, for the facebook community. Social media gets such a bad rap (for good reason), but it also has its perks.
3. I tried a couple new meals this week. On Monday, I made creamy chicken and spinach pasta from pinterest:
Doesn't it look good? It wasn't. There was absolutely no sauce so it was dry and disgusting. Of course that was one night that we were laying the law down on Lucy and insisting that she eat what she was given, so Justin and I both choked down our helpings in an effort to encourage Lucy. Haha. On Friday, I made some homemade alfredo sauce that was amazingly delicious (and amazingly unhealthy) to put on the leftovers. That made it much more palatable!!
I also tried sweet potato and black bean enchiladas for the first time. I've seen these on pinterest, and for some reason thought they looked really good. I'm not usually an adventurous eater. I actually just combined a bunch of recipes because I couldn't find one that I really liked. I microwaved a couple sweet potatoes for 10 minutes, slid them out of the shells and diced them, then added black beans, a smattering of salsa, and a bunch of shredded cheese, rolled them up into tortillas, and used the McCormick enchilada sauce that I use for my regular enchiladas.
I thought they were really good! Justin said they were ok, but he would've preferred meat instead of sweet potatoes. And my parents were not fans. Haha. So I probably won't be making them again anytime soon, but it was fun to try something new!
4. Lucy does not share my sentiments about trying new things. Remember that handy dandy incentive chart I was so sure would encourage her to eat better? Yeah, not so much. Almost every night without fail, she refuses to take a single bite of her food and goes to bed hungry. This week we got smart and told her that she can't get down from the table until she takes one bite. The first night was the yucky pasta. It only took her about 10 minutes to decide she didn't want to sit there all night, so she ate one dry noodle. The second night was the enchiladas, though, and she spent almost an hour crying, singing, and talking to herself alone at the table before she took a minuscule bite of tortilla smothered in sour cream. Haha.
5. I have a problem with getting restless by the end of the week. Thursdays are always my depressed days. I'm bored with my life and irritated that we don't have any money and sick of cleaning the house. So this Thursday evening, we picked up a Little Caesar's pizza, ate it at the park, then went to McDonald's for 49c ice cream cones. Family fun night for under $10! The girls thought it was the greatest thing ever, and I was relieved just to get out of the house!
6. Last night we decided to take the girls kayaking. We borrowed a kayak from a friend and headed down to Long Lake. In the five minutes it took us to put the kayaks in the water, I got around 13,000 bug bites. Ugh. I had Lena with me, and Justin had Lucy. At first, Lena thought it was great. She loved sitting in the boat looking at the water. But then a switch flipped and she started freaking out. It was 7:00 on a quiet, peaceful lake, until Lena's screams started echoing over the water. People were probably coming out of their houses thinking someone was being murdered. Haha. It was actually my first time kayaking and I was already nervous, so when Lena started standing up and climbing on me, I was sure she and I were both going overboard. I tried everything to calm her down, but eventually gave up and paddled back to shore. Justin put my kayak back on the car and prepared to go back out with Lucy while Lena and I drove to the other side of the lake to play on the playground. When Lucy learned where we were going, though, she insisted on coming with me. So our night of family kayaking ended up being the girls and me playing on the beach/playground while Justin fished in his kayak alone. Ha!
7. I think Lena is finally giving up her morning nap. She's usually such an easy sleeper. I lay her down. She goes to sleep. No drama. But this week she cried every time I put her to bed. And she was up all night for no apparent reason. She stands in her bed screaming "mommy!" over and over. On the occasion that she does wake up in the night, all I usually have to do is pick her up, rock her back and forth a little bit, and put her back down. But this week, every time I tried to lay her back down she clung to me like her life depended on it and screamed the second she hit the mattress. After one such night of being up so much, she slept until an unheard of 8 am the following day. So I let her skip her morning nap, and she was totally fine. On Thursday, I put her down for her morning nap as usual and she slept 3 hours, then refused to take an afternoon nap. So for the past few days I've been skipping the morning nap and she is totally unfazed. I know she's the right age (almost 18 months), but I'm gonna miss that morning nap. It sure better mean she'll start sleeping in longer in the morning!!
2. I had a rough day at the grocery store with my girls on Monday, as many of you have already seen on facebook.
Lena refuses to sit in the cart. Even when I buckle her, she still manages to get to her feet and scream "mommy" because she wants me to hold her. I am not coordinated enough to hold her and push the cart at the same time, so I tell her over and over to sit down and continue to cram her legs back into the holes while she screams. And Lucy usually starts out fine, but starts to melt down as we shop. Her feet hurt. She wants to walk. She doesn't want to walk any more. She wants in the cart. She wants out of the cart. It drives me crazy that I can't just say "Lucy stop crying. Lena sit down" and have them obey me. Where have I failed?! Anyway, I had so many sweet and helpful responses from my facebook friends. It makes me grateful, once again, for the facebook community. Social media gets such a bad rap (for good reason), but it also has its perks.
3. I tried a couple new meals this week. On Monday, I made creamy chicken and spinach pasta from pinterest:
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| Picture from realsimple.com |
I also tried sweet potato and black bean enchiladas for the first time. I've seen these on pinterest, and for some reason thought they looked really good. I'm not usually an adventurous eater. I actually just combined a bunch of recipes because I couldn't find one that I really liked. I microwaved a couple sweet potatoes for 10 minutes, slid them out of the shells and diced them, then added black beans, a smattering of salsa, and a bunch of shredded cheese, rolled them up into tortillas, and used the McCormick enchilada sauce that I use for my regular enchiladas.
4. Lucy does not share my sentiments about trying new things. Remember that handy dandy incentive chart I was so sure would encourage her to eat better? Yeah, not so much. Almost every night without fail, she refuses to take a single bite of her food and goes to bed hungry. This week we got smart and told her that she can't get down from the table until she takes one bite. The first night was the yucky pasta. It only took her about 10 minutes to decide she didn't want to sit there all night, so she ate one dry noodle. The second night was the enchiladas, though, and she spent almost an hour crying, singing, and talking to herself alone at the table before she took a minuscule bite of tortilla smothered in sour cream. Haha.
5. I have a problem with getting restless by the end of the week. Thursdays are always my depressed days. I'm bored with my life and irritated that we don't have any money and sick of cleaning the house. So this Thursday evening, we picked up a Little Caesar's pizza, ate it at the park, then went to McDonald's for 49c ice cream cones. Family fun night for under $10! The girls thought it was the greatest thing ever, and I was relieved just to get out of the house!
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| That's the 49c cone! Isn't it huge?! And Lucy wears this crown everywhere now. The grocery store, McDonald's, etc. |
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| I might have gotten a snack size McFlurry instead of a cone - which might cost more than 49c. ;-) |
6. Last night we decided to take the girls kayaking. We borrowed a kayak from a friend and headed down to Long Lake. In the five minutes it took us to put the kayaks in the water, I got around 13,000 bug bites. Ugh. I had Lena with me, and Justin had Lucy. At first, Lena thought it was great. She loved sitting in the boat looking at the water. But then a switch flipped and she started freaking out. It was 7:00 on a quiet, peaceful lake, until Lena's screams started echoing over the water. People were probably coming out of their houses thinking someone was being murdered. Haha. It was actually my first time kayaking and I was already nervous, so when Lena started standing up and climbing on me, I was sure she and I were both going overboard. I tried everything to calm her down, but eventually gave up and paddled back to shore. Justin put my kayak back on the car and prepared to go back out with Lucy while Lena and I drove to the other side of the lake to play on the playground. When Lucy learned where we were going, though, she insisted on coming with me. So our night of family kayaking ended up being the girls and me playing on the beach/playground while Justin fished in his kayak alone. Ha!
7. I think Lena is finally giving up her morning nap. She's usually such an easy sleeper. I lay her down. She goes to sleep. No drama. But this week she cried every time I put her to bed. And she was up all night for no apparent reason. She stands in her bed screaming "mommy!" over and over. On the occasion that she does wake up in the night, all I usually have to do is pick her up, rock her back and forth a little bit, and put her back down. But this week, every time I tried to lay her back down she clung to me like her life depended on it and screamed the second she hit the mattress. After one such night of being up so much, she slept until an unheard of 8 am the following day. So I let her skip her morning nap, and she was totally fine. On Thursday, I put her down for her morning nap as usual and she slept 3 hours, then refused to take an afternoon nap. So for the past few days I've been skipping the morning nap and she is totally unfazed. I know she's the right age (almost 18 months), but I'm gonna miss that morning nap. It sure better mean she'll start sleeping in longer in the morning!!
You and your romance novels... Haha!
ReplyDeleteWhy is grocery shopping with kids so hard?? Sometimes mine are good and sometimes they're terrible. Des used to be really bad about standing up in the cart too. Maybe try putting her in the basket? We always start at the deli and bakery at meijer to get ham and/or cookies for them to snack on, and we almost always stop at the lobsters and the fish during our trip. I hope your girls start cooperating more!!
I need to get more strict about meals with Orion. It's just easier to give him stuff I know he likes... but I want him to be willing to try new things. It's SUCH a battle.
I've been dealing with some depression lately too, and I've found getting exercise and getting out of the house in the mornings helps a lot. I've been trying to leave the house almost every morning so I don't feel so blue. Maybe try starting a new Thursday tradition/routine?